Pentagon Approves General Dynamics Submarine: The decision means the company's Electric Boat Division in Groton, Conn., will have new attack submarines to build once it completes work on a second $2.5-billion Navy Seawolf, the company said. The project could be worth at least $60 billion to the company, it said. There are plans for a third Seawolf, but they are indefinite, officials said. The new submarine will be smaller and less expensive than the Seawolf and adept at operating close to shore.

Layoffs at General Dynamics: General Dynamics said it has given layoff notices to 1,888 employees of its Electric Boat Division due to the proposed cancellation of the Seawolf nuclear submarine program. The company had earlier announced plans to lay off about 2,200 of the division's 20,000 workers. The difference is due to attrition, said a spokesman.

General Dynamics' Electric Boat to Lay Off 800: The division, which builds Trident, Los Angeles Class and Sea Wolf nuclear submarines, will send notices out between July 26 and Aug. 9. The cuts will affect all functions and facilities, including hourly and salaried employees. The Groton, Conn.-based firm planned to reduce its payroll by 1,500 jobs this year through attrition.

General Dynamics to Lay Off 4,000: General Dynamics said the first of up to 4,000 layoffs resulting from the cancellation of the Seawolf submarine program will begin this month at its Groton, Conn., plant. The firm's Electric Boat division said last month that it anticipated laying off 10,000 of its 17,000 Groton employees by 1997. The plant, Connecticut's second-largest private employer, relied largely on Navy submarine pacts.

Pentagon Approves General Dynamics Submarine: The decision means the company's Electric Boat Division in Groton, Conn., will have new attack submarines to build once it completes work on a second $2.5-billion Navy Seawolf, the company said. The project could be worth at least $60 billion to the company, it said. There are plans for a third Seawolf, but they are indefinite, officials said. The new submarine will be smaller and less expensive than the Seawolf and adept at operating close to shore.

General Dynamics to Lay Off 4,000: General Dynamics said the first of up to 4,000 layoffs resulting from the cancellation of the Seawolf submarine program will begin this month at its Groton, Conn., plant. The firm's Electric Boat division said last month that it anticipated laying off 10,000 of its 17,000 Groton employees by 1997. The plant, Connecticut's second-largest private employer, relied largely on Navy submarine pacts.

Navy officials are investigating two severe cracks in the outer steel hull of a Los Angeles-class nuclear submarine under construction at the Electric Boat shipyard in Groton, Conn., officials said. The company described the cracks in the nearly completed Topeka, an SSN-688 fast-attack submarine, as "quite severe" and said workers may have to replace a portion of the giant pressure hull. Electric Boat said the cracks represent "a very unusual occurrence." The company is seeking to determine the cause of the cracks.

Navy officials are investigating two severe cracks in the outer steel hull of a Los Angeles-class nuclear submarine under construction at the Electric Boat shipyard in Groton, Conn., officials said. The company described the cracks in the nearly completed Topeka, an SSN-688 fast-attack submarine, as "quite severe" and said workers may have to replace a portion of the giant pressure hull. Electric Boat said the cracks represent "a very unusual occurrence." The company is seeking to determine the cause of the cracks.

More than 10,000 workers went on strike Friday against Electric Boat, maker of the Navy's nuclear submarines and the largest employer in the area, and no new contract talks were scheduled. The members of unions belonging to the Metal Trades Council walked off their jobs at midnight after voting 4,921 to 3,140 to reject the company's offer to pay them lump-sum bonuses in each of the next three years instead of higher wages.